1921-2025
Vara Cannarissi (Hall) LaFoy, 103, passed away March 26, 2025, at her home in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She was born on June 26, 1921, daughter of Lott and Blanche (Davidson) Hall, and grew up on the family farm near Albert, Kansas. Vara attended Stony Seven School, Otis Bison School, and was a member of the Garfield Township Band.
She married and had one child, Vara Lee. While married, she lived seven years in Europe. Vara later returned to Kansas and attended a business college in Wichita. She and Vara Lee then moved to Washington D.C. After a year at the Pentagon, she joined USAID, and in 1968, both she and her daughter entered the Foreign Service and went to Vietnam. She was posted to Vietnam twice, Guatemala, Ft. Chaffee, Washington D.C., Mauritania, Jamaica, and lastly, Paris. She retired from her last post in 1984 and moved to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where she had been assigned previously in the placing of Vietnamese refugees.
Vara then was able to carry out her desire to paint and won various awards. She also wrote histories of the Hall and Davidson families, Stoney Seven School, and tales of her childhood on the farm. Many years of her life were spent in a brave battle to try to save her farm with its many trees from destruction. She lost, but the battle led to the Kansas Legislature’s change in imminent domain laws.
She was a member of the League of Woman Voters, River Valley Writers, Fort Smith Library Book Club, all of Fort Smith, Arkansas.
Preceding her in death is daughter, Vara Lee LaFoy; her parents; sister, Melba Hagerman; brother, Gene Hall; and her cousins who lived on the Hall farm, Wendell and Wayne Seiling, and John Higgins. All the males from this family served their country; Wendell and Gene were badly wounded, and Wayne died at the end of the Death March in the Philippines.
Vara leaves behind her nieces and nephews, Lott and Cindy Hall, Lynn, John, Mark and Jan Hagerman, cousins, and many friends.
Graveside service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday, April 4, 2025, at Albert Community Cemetery, Albert, Kansas. Memorials have been designated to Doctors Without Borders, in care of Bryant Funeral Home, 1425 Patton Rd., Great Bend, KS 67530.
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